Nancy Swing, currently living on California's Central Coast with husband Russell Sunshine and five backyard deer who come and go as they please.

1. Why did you move abroad?
My husband and I were independent consultants working in developing countries, both long term (2 or more years) and short-term (6-8 weeks). Sometimes we were together, sometimes not. Among the countries where I worked for clients like the U.N., USAID and the World Bank: Egypt, Kenya, Guyana, Pakistan, and Somalia.(More)

I’m Lizzie Harwood, born in New Zealand and now living near Paris, France.

1. Why did you move abroad?
As kids we moved back and forth between New Zealand and my parents’ native Canada. Later Mum bought all of us one-way tickets in Europe around the age of 21 when we wanted to backpack. After university studies in New Zealand, I moved to Asia for a sudden job offer and kept moving until I settled in Paris in 2001. To date, I’ve lived in seven countries. (More)

My name is Elka Ray. I was born in England, grew up in Africa and Canada, and live in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

1. Why did you move abroad?
I studied Journalism and Asian Studies at university and was intrigued by Vietnam’s history. After I finished my B.A., I came here “for one year” to find a thesis topic. That was almost 18 years ago.
2. How do you make a living? Are you a fulltime writer?
For the past decade I’ve worked two weeks out of each month editing a travel magazine. I write fiction during the other two weeks. Before that I held a number of media-related jobs, all of which involved writing or editing. I started out writing travel and lifestyle features for magazines and guidebooks. These days, I travel less than I used to because I have two young children.(More)

Alexander McNabb is from the UK and has been working in,
living in and travelling around the Middle East for over 25 years. Currently located in the UAE, Alexander is a frequent conference speaker,
chair and moderator, particularly on issues around online and digital
communications.

1. Why did you move abroad?
Oof, start with the small questions, eh? I was working for a UK based publishing company specializing in trade magazines for the Middle East, particularly in technology, and as time went on it was more and more obvious we needed to set up in the UAE. So I started up a partly owned subsidiary here back in 1993 and the rest, as they say, is history.

2. How do you make a living? Are you a fulltime writer?
No, I wish! I’m the director of a digital communications consultancy called Spot On Public Relations. I moved out of publishing into PR in the late 1990s, rather like a frog being boiled – it sort of happened before I realized it. And then PR turned into getting more involved in online and digital marketing, which is the day job today.